CBBC Experience
Work experience reflections.
(GBR) So instead of heading off to university at the beginning of a very bleak January like the other poor souls I know, I got on packed train to West London every morning. BBC Television Centre to be more precise. I scored this placement after MediaSnackers took me up to Sheffield to the Showcomotion Children's Media Conference last July—that was a great but exhausting few days—not without it's rewards though: the 'digi-journos' got taught how to use filming equipment, how to blog and I think most importantly, we learnt loads of things about 'the industry'. The Mediasnackers team bumped into lots cool, funky media types, most cool and funky of them all being Joe Mace, Head of Entertainment and Development at CBBC. He loved our work at the conference so much, he ended up offering placements to those who wanted them at CBBC itself! So I grabbed this opportunity with both hands. I'd be crazy if I hadn't.
Enough with these fancy titles, what does Mr. Mace actually do and more importantly what did I learn from him, his team and the overall experience? Well, firstly Joe's team are responsible for all the new programming on CBBC (on BBC1, 2 and the CBBC channel)—they don't make the shows, they just have lots of fun coming up with the ideas, the concepts and the overall 'feel' of a show. When I joined them, they were in the middle of a commissioning and pitching round. They'd already come up with several programme ideas, so the focus now was to create short taster film clips to show the 'big bosses' at the BBC. On two occasions, I went out on location to film teasers being a general runner.
Throughout the year, they are constantly thinking of ideas for new shows and developing slightly older ones. I was set the task of going through magazine, newspapers and the Internet to find interesting, weird, extraordinary articles, pictures and headlines. From this, I made a few brainstorm boards and Joe took me to a meeting with CBBC presenters 'Ed and Oucho' and people behind the development of their characters. We looked at how the presenters' personas could have different stories and dilemmas—sparked by the brainstorm boards I had made earlier.
I attended a 'creativity session' about how kids feel about the Olympics (v. interesting), I looked at various presenter showreels, I researched for potential ideas for shows, I helped with titles for a pilot show and I saw Konnie from Blue Peter. Placements are something I encourage all young people to do, for the experience, for the insight, for the contacts, for the reality. Being in an environment which is completely sheltered from the outside world up until you leave university is more common than you think.
Kids are innovative. They have a different way of thinking. What seemed bizarre to me was that I saw hardly any children at CBBC. Surely they are the ones that know what they want from a television programme? Are there certain assumptions that adults have, that deem them fit to contribute into a medium which children are heavily influenced by? We may think we know what children want to watch—perhaps there is so much variety out there now that they can watch a whole spectrum of shows, however if you are in charge of a channel, you want people to watch YOUR one, not pick and choose between others. I applaud the BBC as a corporation for having such diversity in their programming, but will they ever stop? How do they know whether or not they are repeating or overdoing an idea? Of course, they may have focus groups, but are children actually involved in the creative process of new programming?
I want to leave this on a positive note—I don't want you to think I didn't have a great time there because I did, but there are aspects in the development of programming that need to be addressed. CBBC is a fun organisation, everyone there is friendly and accommodating, the thought crossed my mind never to come back to university. Alas, I did…
Contributed by Jess
